Boards

We (The Patio Set) are currently planning our first UK tour and could use a little local knowledge. We're looking for venues/promoters that fit all or (more realistically) some of the following criteria:

*Small-ish venue
*Mix of unsigned and bigger bands
*Venue or promoter that attracts its own crowd (the Holy Grail!)
*Cheap/free entry

Basically, we're looking for the place in town where people who like alternative music go. Our music is upbeat with punk, prog and funk influences, if that helps with ideas for promoters... It's a bit new-wave, but heavier... Gah! just have a listen to the myspace.

i've always found swiss concrete to be really nice guys - though their night can be pretty quiet unless you bring people yourselves or play with a well-known band. we played there twice and both times it was pretty deserted. they run a monthly night at the wheatsheaf which is pretty good, so it's worth doing if you want to build things up in oxford.

as a one off show i'd recommend the cellar, bands go on late and there tends to be a decent audience. nice beefy sound system too. if you message them on myspace they'll offer you a show at some point, probably at big hair.

if you fancy playing reading you should try and get a show at the oakford social club, that's the best venue in the area, decent sound, free entry and generally populated by friendly muso types who watch and enjoy bands.

birmingham's dead hard to get into, most promoters expect you to bring a crowd/sell tickets and they really look after their own, which i actually kind of respect. it took us two years to land a decent gig there. you can play the spotted dog in digbeth quite easily but tend to play to disinterested locals who just want to have a drink...

message me if you want a big ol' excel spreadsheet of promoters and nights you can look into, i've got most of those cities on there, though it might be a bit out of date for some, as it was done around a year ago.